Early owners and tenants are unknown. However, Dominick Small, a carpenter and builder, had his shop in the building in the late 1870's. Anson Parsons Hotaling
bought the building and others in the vicinity before 1890 for his liquor business. Hotaling's estate owned the building until 1944.

The WPA rented the building during the 1930's for the Federal Writers and Federal Artists projects. In 1941 that use ended, and in 1942 Walter McElroy,
an editor in the writers project, took over the lease. In 1945, the lease was taken by Emmy Lou Packard, well-known artist and draftswoman.

During World War II, the tenants included artists and writers who lived here and worked in the shipyards. Among them were Giacomo Patri, Avrum Rubinstein,
Byron Randall, Miss Packard (now Mrs. Randall), and Martin Snipper. Writers, artists, musicians continued to live and work here until the 1950's
when the building was converted into sales and showrooms for interior designers.

Adapted from the San Francisco City Planning Commission Resolution No. 6277 dated October 3, 1968

President Franklin Roosevelt came into office during the worst depression the nation had ever known. Fulfilling a campaign promise to put people to
work, he instituted the New Deal to bring economic recovery to the depression-wrought country.

The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933 authorized the Public Works Administration (PWA) to provide jobs, stimulate business
activity, and increase purchasing power through the construction of permanent and socially useful public works. The Federal Government and
local city, county and state governments formed a working partnership resulting in the greatest single construction program in history.

PWA construction projects, in addition to providing employment for the skilled, generated a volume of jobs for the unskilled. The PWA
provided loans and grants up to forty percent of the total cost of the project to states, and many other public bodies, including
schools.

From 1933-1935, the PWA underwrote projects in 3,040 of the 3,073 counties in all forty-eight states. Of the 3.76 billion dollars of
the NIRA fund, 2.56 billion dollars was spent on 19,004 construction projects.

Narrative adapted in part from the NRHP nomination for Tulare Union High School Auditorium and Administration Building
dated 16 November 1999.

Many buildings funded by the PWA have been recognized for their historic significance and architectural excellence. Among them are: